-Caveat Lector-
FBI Warns of Serb Terrorism in U.S.
By JOHN DIAMOND
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI is investigating a Serb-language letter faxed to
several Orthodox churches in the United States urging terrorist strikes on
U.S. military installations.
Counterterrorism agents at the FBI sent out an electronic alert memo last
week to military bases, nuclear weapons labs and other key installations
after Serbian Orthodox churches in the Sacramento, Calif., Milwaukee, Chicago
and Indianapolis areas received the letter via fax. It urged Serbian
Americans to respond violently to U.S.-led NATO strikes on Yugoslavia.
``The threat letter requested that all Serbian nationalists living in America
take action against the NATO decision to intervene in the Serbian/Kosovo
conflict by killing as many American soldiers in the United States as
necessary to stop the NATO attacks in Serbia,'' according to the FBI memo.
The memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press, was distributed to
military bases and other sensitive federal installations, such as nuclear
weapons labs, through a special e-mail warning system, officials said.
Dale Watson, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism,
declined to discuss the memo but said the church letters weren't the only
Serb-related terrorism threats being examined by FBI investigators.
``As the war continues, we receive a lot of threats in here. The FBI looks
into them,'' Watson said Wednesday in a telephone interview. ``This (letter)
is not just an isolated situation. We look at threats; we take them all
seriously.''
Serbian Orthodox church officials in the cities mentioned in the FBI memo
either declined to comment or said they had no information about the
Serb-language letter.
No arrests have been made of any Serb nationals suspected of planning
terrorist acts. The agency is investigating whether there is any link between
the Yugoslav government in Belgrade and the threats in the United States,
officials said.
The alert memo warned military commanders nationwide ``that there is a
credible threat outstanding to take action within the United States against
U.S. military personnel.''
Military bases around the country had been on alert dating as far back as
last summer's bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. But bases are
stepping up security measures.
``We have increased our threat condition from Alpha to Bravo,'' said Bob
Pepper, spokesman for the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.,
home of F-117 stealth fighters being used against Yugoslavia.
The one-step increase in threat awareness, he said, probably would not be
noticeable to outside civilians. It involves more intensive identity checks
and stricter requirements for non-military people entering the base.
Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said military commanders were responding to
the FBI warnings.
``We are aware of these threats and we have disseminated the information to
local commanders and it's up to them to adjust ... according to the threats
they see,'' Bacon said.
Increasingly, the Pentagon has become concerned with the possibility that
terrorists would locate and target individual servicemen, perhaps in their
homes. As a result, the Pentagon has grown reluctant to identify individual
pilots flying strike missions and has scrubbed military Internet sites of
personal and family information and service members.
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